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Sunday, May 29, 2005


Fount of Every Blessing 

Today, at both St. Luke's and Canterbury (and I suspect a number of other parishes) we sang #686 out of the Hymnal 1982, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing". This has long been one of my favorite hymns and one where I generally leave all propriety aside, place my hand on my diaphragm, and sing as loud as I possibly can. Both this morning and this evening, I was particualrly moved by the third verse, which I will post here at the risk of being too much like Susie:

"O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above. "

I found myself almost brought to tears each time I sang that verse. I am prone to wander, prone to wander daily and there seems to be nothing I can do about it. St. Paul got it right when he talked about doing the very things you don't want to do and not doing the very things you want to do. I guess the part that really gets me is the fact that Jesus, in His mercy, makes His grace new every day. To grace how great a debtor I am, indeed. Wow...that's really something, you know.

Then, at Canterbury tonight, Heather invited us to come forward to receive sacramental healing. This is also offered at Seabury, usually on a weekly basis, and sometimes I go and sometimes I don't. Tonight I felt led to approach the altar and receive the Sacrament. It was pretty moving. But, the more moving part came after I returned to my seat and knelt to pray. I got started praying and then I felt like I couldn't stop, it was weird. I prayed harder as I heard bursts of emotion come from the front, being washed away and cleansed by the blood of Jesus. People were made new tonight. People were refreshed and revitalized and resealed to the Holy Spirit. It was extremely powerful! At first I thought it seemed odd for that to happen at the end of a term, but then I thought again. No, how wonderful! Thank you Jesus for being with us and for healing us, and for renewing us each day. Do not let us be broken by the powers and principalities of this world God! Do not let us be broken!

"Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood."

-R

3 Comments:

Thank you.

By Blogger Beth, at 12:31 AM  


Do you know Sufjan Stevens’s recording of that, Ryan? It’s very fine.

By Blogger AKMA, at 7:28 AM  


And bizarrely, as soon as I read that comment, Jane's iPod began playing said recording, which I had not heard previously.

It is a marvelous recording, indeed. I like it much.

By Blogger Beth, at 11:08 AM  


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